Buckeye teacher pleads not guilty to sexual conduct with foreign-exchange student, 17

A Buckeye elementary school teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old foreign-exchange student pleaded not guilty in court Friday morning.

Joshua Schroder, 36, and his attorney, Adnan "A.D." Horan, declined to comment after the arraignment proceeding. Schroder was indicted Tuesday by a Maricopa County grand jury on four counts of sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Schroder, who teaches at Rainbow Valley Elementary School and coordinates a foreign-exchange program, was arrested Feb. 13 by Goodyear police. Schroder has been a teacher at Rainbow Valley Elementary School for 10 years, according to court documents.

The student's host parents reported the inappropriate relationship to the Goodyear Police Department, police spokeswoman Lisa Kutis said.

According to a probable-cause statement provided by the Goodyear Police Department to the courts, the Swedish exchange student's host mother reported more than 600 text messages were sent between the student and Schroder in a month's time. The large number of texts led her to believe that the relationship was more than the expected communication between exchange student and coordinator.

A good friend of the exchange student also reported a possibly inappropriate relationship between Schroder and the exchange student to her host mother, court documents said.

The friend told Goodyear police "that she had noticed Joshua texting the victim comments like 'I love you' " as well as suggestive pictures, court documents said.

The exchange student disclosed to police that the relationship had started in September, court documents said.

"She was not forced or threatened," the court documents said, "but did not really like the suspect and wanted it to stop."

A statement released by Liberty Elementary School District Superintendent Andy Rogers on the day of Schroder's arrest said that the 17-year-old student was "not a current or former student of the Liberty Elementary School District."

The district has prohibited Schroder from being on district property or having any contact with students or staff members in the district.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Julie Mata affirmed all of Schroder's prior release conditions, which included pretrial services supervision, electronic monitoring and enforcement of a curfew. Schroder was present in court Friday and out of custody. He had been released on a $10,000 bond a few days after his arrest.

Schroder was ordered by the judge to submit fingerprint and DNA samples to Goodyear police. His next court appearance was set for April 12.